Newcastle United has appointed former Wimbledon boss Joe Kinnear as interim manager until the end of October. His last post was an unsuccessful spell as manager of Nottingham Forest in 2004.

Kinnear says he thinks he will be in charge of the team for six games until the club is sold by current owner Mike Ashley, and that the new owners will then bring back Kevin Keegan, in tandem with former England and Newcastle striker Alan Shearer. "I think the club's going to be sold at the beginning of October and [current assistant manager] Chris Hughton needs all the help he can get," said Kinnear, duly adding that Newcastle is "a great club" with passionate fans, and that he was "very excited about the challenge in front of me."

Former England manager Terry Venables turned down the job after talks this week. "I was ready and willing to give it a real go, but I was never offered the chance to do that," Venables said. "All they could guarantee was that I'd be in a job until Mike Ashley sells the club, whenever that might be."

"The Newcastle supporters have suffered more than enough in recent years," Venables added. "I didn't want them to think I'd gone up there just to pocket a few quid from Mike Ashley and then wave 'cheerio' a couple of weeks later." As if.